Bigelow Tea Enjoys a Cup of Business Intelligence

Maker of specialty tea deploys BI solution to manage enterprise performance

Maker of specialty tea deploys BI solution to manage enterprise performance

San Jose, CA — November 3, 2003 — While customers are sipping Bigelow tea, the information is pouring in for managers at The Bigelow Tea Co. Using Business Objects, a provider of business intelligence (BI) solutions, Bigelow Tea managers know whether customers are buying its Constant Comment, Lemon Lift or Mint Medley varieties of tea.

Bigelow Tea, which selected BusinessObjects Enterprise 6 as its enterprise BI standard, said it is using the BI suite to track, understand and manage enterprise performance across several areas of the business, including sales, finance, marketing and customer service operations.

At The Bigelow Tea Co., sales managers are charged with selling more than 50 varieties of flavored, iced, decaffeinated and herbal teas. Using BusinessObjects Enterprise 6, both in-house and field sales representatives access the company's intranet to keep track of customer orders from start to finish, as well as total sales for individual accounts. The information is pulled from a Microsoft SQL Server data warehouse and then made available to sales managers via BusinessObjects Enterprise 6.

In addition, Bigelow Tea said its marketing department could do promotion analysis to learn how specific promotions are affecting sales. This helps the company determine which promotions are the most effective and whether they should be used again in the future, or how well geographically based promotions work in different regions during different times of year. For example, a hot-tea promotion may be more profitable in the cold winter months in the East, while ice tea sells better in the summer and will benefit from a promotional campaign in the West.

The finance department also benefits from promotional analysis for an immediate pulse on the financial impact and expected revenue resulting from targeted campaigns.

BusinessObjects Enterprise 6 is also deployed in Bigelow Tea's customer service department to monitor timeliness of deliveries, and executives will use Business Objects solutions to monitor large account orders more precisely, the tea company said.

"The benefit of using Business Objects is tremendous. Previously, it would take two weeks to find answers to important business questions, but now it only takes a few minutes," said Melanie Dower, project leader at The Bigelow Tea Co. "Business Objects is also very easy to use, and reports can be modified quickly. This is a terrific advantage to our employees and is a powerful tool for helping us meet our company's performance objectives."

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